Our Health Policy Matters

Last week, I wrote about the states that have decided not to expand Medicaid this year.  The decision will cost them in money and lives.  But the 24 (and counting) states that have chosen to expand Medicaid will face challenges of their own.  As a new article in Health Affairs Blog reveals, expanding states will have plenty to do to assure that the benefits of expansion reach those most in need. The article, entitled Lessons of Early Medicaid Expansions Under the Affordable Care Act , reviews the experiences of five states and the District of Columbia in expanding Medicaid benefits to additional populations using authority granted to them under Obamacare.  The five states were Connecticut, California, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington. All of the states were able to capture federal dollars to support state or local low-income insurance programs.  But, according to the authors, there were seven lessons these states learned that could be warnin...

Last week, I wrote about the states that have decided not to expand Medicaid this year.  The decision will cost them in money and lives.  But the 24 (and counting) states that have chosen to expand Medicaid will face challenges of their own.  As a new article in Health Affairs Blog reveals, expanding states will have plenty to do to assure that the benefits of expansion reach those most in need. The article, entitled Lessons of Early Medicaid Expansions Under the Affordable Care Act , reviews the experiences of five states and the District of Columbia in expanding Medicaid benefits to additional populations using authority granted to them under Obamacare.  The five states were Connecticut, California, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington. All of the states were able to capture federal dollars to support state or local low-income insurance programs.  But, according to the authors, there were seven lessons these states learned that could be warnin...